Like much of California, we were hit by PG&E’s Public Safety Power Shutoff this weekend. While there’s plenty to grumble about with regards to PG&E, it’s not going to help get the power back on.
So, here’s an inexpensive hack to help keep some of your critical infrastructure up and running when the grid is down and you don’t have a generator (or your generator has failed). And by critical infrastructure, I mean your refrigerator.
An inexpensive portable inverter hooked up to your car and refrigerator is all that is needed to keep your food from spoiling. Simply put, the inverter converts the DC power generated by your car to the AC power needed by your refrigerator.
This outage we’ve successfully used a 400-watt and 800-watt inverter to power our fridge. The 400-watt inverter was technically underpowered based on our refrigerator’s specs (5.2 amps x 115 volts = 598 watts) but it did work. The 800-watt inverter was only $70 on Amazon and gives us a comfortable safety buffer just in case. I ordered it late Saturday evening from Amazon and it was delivered mid-afternoon on Sunday.
A couple of caveats. Your car must be idling the whole time your fridge is hooked up (unless you want to completely drain your battery) AND you must clamp the inverter directly to your car’s battery (just like jumper cables). Most inverters ship with a cigarette adapter plug but you just can’t pull enough juice using it. So use the cord with the battery clamps. You’ll also need a good quality extension cord to run from your car to your refrigerator.
Some will say you need a more expensive “pure sine wave” inverter, but a cheaper “modified” or “square wave” inverter will work just fine for most refrigerators.
Worried about having your car idle for hours on end? Just run it long enough to keep your food cold. I ran ours for 2 or 3 hours last night before bed and things were still plenty cold this morning. I’ve also sat in an idling car for hours on end at work with no problem at all, so I would be comfortable running it longer if needed.
Sadly, even the 800-watt inverter won’t power our espresso machine…or my guitar amp. But at least our food hasn’t spoiled.
A generator is definitely a better long term option, but now isn’t the time to buy unless your need is urgent. Availability is spotty and prices seem to be at a premium.
P.S. A big shout out to our neighbor Wally for loaning us his spare generator! Good neighbors are priceless.